Sensex, Nifty turn negative in early noon deals

In a volatile session, Indian equity benchmarks are now trading in red, amid selling at Utilities and Power counters along with mixed cues from other Asian markets. Traders got cautious with a private report stating that amid a deepening funding winter, only 53 per cent of startup founders had a positive fundraising experience (71 per cent of those who attempted to raise) in 2022, down from 92 per cent in 2021. Founders expect this year to be challenging, with 58 per cent of founders expecting a tough fundraising environment. Adding more worries among investors, another private report stated that the Reserve Bank of India is likely to raise interest rates once again in April as inflation pressures persist and the Federal Reserve continues to tighten, a day after the central bank delivered what many had expected to be its last hike in the current cycle.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, as Malaysia's retail sales growth eased for the sixth straight month in December, though marginally. The data from the statistical office showed that the value of retail sales logged an annual growth of 22.7 percent in December, following a 22.8 percent gain in November. Further, this was the slowest rate of growth since April 2022, when sales had risen 20.9 percent.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60617.49, down by 46.30 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 60472.81 and 60763.73. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell by 0.01%, while Small cap index was down by 0.09%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.44%, Industrials up by 0.31%, Capital Goods up by 0.25% and TECK up by 0.21%, while Utilities down by 0.89%, Power down by 0.78%, Telecom down by 0.74%, Bankex down by 0.47% and Realty down by 0.42% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 2.53%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.86%, Asian Paints up by 1.14%, Indusind Bank up by 0.78% and Infosys up by 0.71%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.35%, Tata Motors down by 0.97%, Axis Bank down by 0.87%, HDFC Bank down by 0.76% and HDFC down by 0.74% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, CEO of the Government e-Market (GeM) P K Singh has said that procurement of goods and services from government portal GeM is expected to cross Rs 2 lakh crore during this fiscal year (FY23) on account of an increase in buying activities by different ministries and departments. The procurement crossed Rs 1.5 lakh crore on February 1, 2023.

Singh said huge potential is there in states and public sector undertakings to increase the buying from the platform. He noted that the portal was launched on August 9, 2016, for online purchases of goods and services by all the central government ministries and departments. He said the portal has over 66,000 government buyer organisations and more than 58 lakh sellers and service providers offering a diverse range of goods and services.

He stated that through automation and digitisation of processes, GeM has led to higher process efficiencies, better information sharing, improved transparency, reduced process cycle times, and a higher level of trust among bidders, which in turn have resulted in greater competition and higher savings. He said ‘we need to tap states..we are continuously in discussions with them. There are huge benefits to onboard the platform.’ He added that central public sector enterprises account for about 50 per cent of the total procurement happening at the platform. The portal provides a wide range of products from office stationery to vehicles.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17837.00, down by 34.70 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 17779.80 and 17887.75. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finserv up by 2.40%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.82%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.66%, SBI Life Insurance up by 1.12% and Asian Paints up by 1.10%. On the flip side, Adani Enterprises down by 10.20%, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone by 4.06%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.68%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.38% and Tata Motors down by 0.99% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Straits Times fell 23.15 points or 0.68% to 3,365.37, Nikkei 225 slipped 22.11 points or 0.08% to 27,584.35, Taiwan Weighted lost 19.46 points or 0.12% to 15,598.71 and KOSPI dropped 2.12 points or 0.09% to 2,481.52, while Jakarta Composite gained 2.76 points or 0.04% to 6,942.88, Shanghai Composite strengthened 36.69 points or 1.14% to 3,268.80 and Hang Seng advanced 303.92 points or 1.43% to 21,587.44.